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How we fund our work

Mothers’ Union aims to reduce dependency and to work in partnership, strategically looking at how we work with and equip all Mothers’ Union members around the world.

At the local level Mothers' Union groups fundraise and run individual projects to meet specific local needs.

At the national and international level, Mothers' Union resources members and provides funding for core programmes such as the Literacy & Financial EducationProgramme, Loving for Life or the Parenting Programme. In some countries Mothers' Union also employs regional staff (Community Development Coordinators), part funded by the local region and part funded from the central Mothers' Union, to raise the skills of the members in the area so that they can be more effective in reaching out to their communities.

Find out more detail on Where Your Money Goes to see how we are developing a strategy to ensure we reduce dependency and enable more Mothers’ Union members to carry out their vital work. You can also download a copy of our Annual Report & Accounts.

Money raised for Mothers’ Union comes from membership subscriptions from within the UK and Ireland, donations from local Mothers’ Unions as well as support from individuals, trusts and partnerships. Learn more in How We Are Funded.

We are dependent on the committed support from members and supporters to move forward with our strategic vision.

How we are funded

Subscriptions

Mothers’ Union is a membership-based charity with 83,000 members in the UK & Ireland. Twenty-eight per cent of our income is from membership subscriptions. Each member pays a subscription to their local Mothers' Union, a percentage of which supports local work and another percentage goes towards central funds. This enables Mothers’ Union to resource members, manage core programmes and manage the charity.

Donations and fundraising

Each Mothers’ Union area (diocese) gives towards programme work around the world through fundraising and other activities.

We have specific appeals such as Make a Mother’s Day and the Big Summer Appeal.

We receive donations from our members, individuals, charitable trusts, people who buy an ethical gift from Make a Mother’s Day or our online shop, people who do sponsored runs, swims, bus rides, mountain climbs…. the list is endless. Thank you.

Visit our fundraising page to find out how you can help us.

Major supporters

Current major supporters include Comic Relief, Department for Education, Women’s World Day of Prayer and the Isle of Man Overseas Aid Committee.

MU Enterprises Ltd

All the profits from MU Enterprises Ltd come to the charity.

Partnerships

We also work in partnership with like-minded organisations to achieve our goals. We currently work with Five Talents on our Literacy & Financial Education Programme in South Sudan and Sudan, and Us on Church Community Mobilisation in Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Where your money goes

Mothers’ Union is a federation of organisations. We work in partnership to carry out our vision with local Mothers’ Union charities in the UK & Ireland as well as Mothers’ Union in over 80 countries worldwide.

We train and resource our members to support their communities. This could be through setting up projects in their local communities, campaigning or praying.

We are currently changing the way we fund our work. We are moving away from the traditional model of dependency established by ‘developed world giving’ to that of enabling national or regional level Mothers' Unions to develop their own financial self-sufficiency.

This means we will fund training that equips national Mothers’ Unions to manage the funding and training of their regions. In this way, the giving of mainly developed world donors will be used strategically and where it is needed most, enabling Mothers' Union to grow and flourish.

Mothers' Union provides funding for core programmes such as:

Literacy & Financial Education Programme: operating in Burundi, Ethiopia, Malawi, South Sudan and Sudan, by the end of 2013 over 130,000 people will have become literate, many moving on to learn how to set up small businesses and savings groups.

Parenting Programme: this operates in 18 countries worldwide, including the UK. It brings parents together to find solutions to the issues with which they are struggling.

Loving for Life: our members across the world provide relationship support for couples. This could be help with marriage preparation or offering support to couples already married.

Community Development Coordinators: 300 staff who support local Mothers’ Union groups in meeting the needs of their communities. This enables them to undertake activities ranging from running small-scale farming initiatives in Africa to setting up family support groups in prisons around the UK.

Church & Community Mobilisation Process: in many areas Mothers' Union is starting to use Bible studies to initiate economic, social, spiritual and physical transformation for struggling communities. Members see that God has already provided for them, and has given them the skills they need to live - and live well. This process helps to unlock the potential of communities living in poverty.

Where national Mothers’ Unions are not yet able to become financially self-sufficient grants from central Mothers' Union will continue to help initiate programmes and projects that can transform communities.

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